Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 3, 1993 TAG: 9304030123
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BRISTOL, TENN. LENGTH: Medium
FINAL VICTORY LAP A SALUTE TO THE DEFENDING CHAMPION
The saddest, slowest lap in stock car racing history took place Friday morning at Bristol International Raceway.A cold wind blew through this bowl-shaped short track at 10:30 a.m. as truck driver Peter "Rabbit" Jellen started the diesel engine of Alan Kulwicki's Ford 9000 Aeromax hauler and eased forward down the frontstretch for a final, memorial lap.
The NASCAR family lined the frontstretch pit wall, and the utter silence from the throng demonstrated the depth of their grief over the loss of Kulwicki, who died Thursday night when the twin-engine plane in which he was a passenger crashed on approach to the municipal airport here.
On the other side of the fence, about 200 spectators silently bore witness to this dramatic, sorrow-filled memorial lap.
Kulwicki, 38, a Greenfield, Wis., native, moved to Concord, N.C., in 1985 to try his fortune at NASCAR racing. He was the first reigning Winston Cup champion to lose his life since 1963 champion Joe Weatherly was killed during a race at Riverside, Calif., in January, 1964.
It took several minutes for Jellen to complete the lap. And as he brought the big truck to the finish line, he was wiping the tears that poured from his eyes. In the starter's stand, NASCAR flagman Mike Chaplin briskly waved the checkered flag.
"Whenever you lose a family member, you don't know exactly what to do," said driver Mark Martin, who had dueled with Kulwicki since the late 1970s, when they battled on the midwestern American Speed Association stock car circuit.
"You don't know how to feel. You don't know how to act. You've got a big sick feeling inside, and we will for a long, long time," Martin said.
"It's just so sad," said Geoff Bodine, "because he accomplished what we're all here to do - be the Winston Cup champion - and he was on top of the world. But he wasn't able to finish the year he worked all of his racing career to get to."
But as the NASCAR family reflected on this intense, somewhat shy, surprisingly witty racer, they were also wondering what would become of the championship team he had so painstakingly built.
Answers to some of those questions came in a statement from team manager Don Hawk released Friday afternoon.
"All of the employees of Alan Kulwicki Racing are devastated by last night's airplane crash in Blountville, Tenn.," Hawk said.
"Alan Kulwicki had a will and it named his father [Gerry] as sole beneficiary."
Kulwicki was not married.
Gerry Kulwicki withdrew the team from Sunday's race, but has every intention "to keep this team together - this is a championship team."
The elder Kulwicki named Winston Cup team owner Felix Sabates, a close friend of Alan's, as administrator of the team. "Felix will run the team in the interim until a new owner can be found," the statement said.
Hawk also said thousands of fans from all over the country had "overwhelmed" the team with a "tremendous outpouring of emotion."
NASCAR Technical Director Gary Nelson set the tone during a press conference Friday morning as he struggled to keep his composure while offering a tribute.
"Personally, he became a friend of mine," said Nelson. "I went to him for advice many times. His engineering expertise helped me through a lot of technical difficulties I encountered" after taking the NASCAR job at the beginning of 1992.
Former Winston Cup team owner Johnny Hayes remembered that Kulwicki used to come up to him and say, "Johnny, I'm sorta depressed. Make me laugh."
At other times, however, "he was so intense about what he was doing, he could walk past you and not even see you."
"To me," said driver Rick Mast, "he was the epitome of what stock car racing stands for. He started out years ago on a dirt floor with a bucket of bolts and four tires. And he made it to the top."
Steve Hmiel, Martin's crew chief, expressed the feeling of many when he said, "The thing I'm worried about is Alan's dad."
Many NASCAR fans are familiar with Alan's sorrow-filled childhood. He lost his mother when he was in the second grade. His grandmother died five years later and his only brother died a year after that. And as he grew up, he had trouble getting along with his father.
But these were Gerry Kulwicki's tragedies, too. And now, after a joyful reconciliation with Alan, he has lost his only remaining child.
The shock of a champion's sudden death had many people simply going through the motions Friday.
After winning the pole for Sunday's Food City 500, the defending champion of which was Kulwicki, Rusty Wallace said, "How can anybody get excited about today after what happened last night?"
Keywords:
AUTO RACING FATALITY